New UK campaign group – Labour Against Zionist Islamophobic Racism (LAZIR) – launched

Labour Against Zionist Islamophobic Racism (LAZIR)
Pete Gregson writes:

A new campaign group, Labour Against Zionist Islamophobic Racism (LAZIR), has held its inaugural meeting on 1 June.

The group aims to kick Zionism out of the British Labour Party.

Making free speech on Israel possible again in the Labour Party will take more that just a petition. We need a campaigning group that stops the creeping Zionism that pollutes politics in the UK, most especially that is so corrosive in Labour. We need to build a network of activists across the UK, working in a concerted manner against the toxic Jewish Labour Movement, in a campaign to allow us to decry apartheid in Israel without being branded “anti-Semites”. So, I want to invite you to review the aims and policies of the body below, and sign up if you want to be a member.

Labour Against Zionist Islamophobic Racism (LAZIR) aims to build up a network of Labour activists in Constituency Labour Parties across the UK who will work to get Zionism out of the Labour Party, because Zionism is racism.

Policy 1: We are not anti-Jewish. We stand by the Merriam Webster definition of anti-Semitism, defined as “hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic or racial group”. We abhor this kind of racism as we do all racisms, including that against Arabs by Zionists and other racists. We focus on Zionist racism because other forms of racism are not generally acceptable in the Labour Party. Political Zionism currently is.

Policy 2: We note the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition declares that saying “Israel is a racist endeavour” is anti-Semitic, but we say it is the truth. And we know there will never be peace there until Palestinians are given equal rights to Jews and the full right to return is implemented (as the UN called for in Resolution 194). We see that the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) is a Zionist body that supports Israel and rejects these aims. They must be disaffiliated from the Labour Party and replaced with Jewish Voice for Labour, whose anti-racist aims and values truly reflect Labour’s social justice philosophy. We will oppose Zionist political activities in the Labour Party, trade unions and civic bodies. We say that membership of the JLM and the Friends of Israel should be proscribed for Labour members, for these bodies promote racism against Palestinians and Arabs in Israel and in the occupied territories.

Policy 3: We oppose the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism as politicised and fraudulent, as do the Palestinian trade unions and civic groups, whom we are committed to supporting. We will campaign to get it confined to the dustbin of history, thereby freeing millions of UK citizens to criticise Israel as they see fit.

Policy 4: We believe in freedom of speech and will not bar anyone from joining this group. They must stand by the rules and satisfy these conditions:

  • That they are current or expelled members of the Labour Party or political levy payers/affiliated supporters in the trade unions
  • Campaign supporters should not accuse anyone of violating the IHRA definition or any putative definition of anti-Semitism other than the above dictionary definition. Indeed, we believe all those accused of an “anti-Semitism” that does not reflect the Merriam Webster definition deserve full solidarity and support. We challenge claims that their conduct brings the party (or union) into disrepute; we consider witch-hunts of such individuals to be far more corrosive, as it usually reflects institutional support for apartheid Israel.

Policy 5: We note AlJazeera TV’s “The Lobby” which shows how Israel funds the JLM and the FoI to take down UK politicians of whom it disapproves (even Tories – click here). We despair of the BBC and the Guardian and other press who support Zionism and undermine free speech on Israel. The IHRA says it is anti-Semitic to say that “Israel exaggerates the holocaust”.

While they may not exaggerate the numbers, we believe they exploit and weaponise it. Here we note the words of the Israeli former minister of education, Shulamit Aloni, who said in a US interview that the holocaust was a trick the Israelis used. The interviewer asked: “

Often, when there is dissent expressed in the United States against policies of the Israeli government, people here are called anti-Semitic. What is your response to that as an Israeli Jew?

Aloni replied:

Well, it’s a trick, we always use it. When from Europe somebody is criticising Israel, then we bring up the holocaust…

We note that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu now exploits the holocaust in the most outrageous fashion, with ridiculous claims that Hitler didn’t want to exterminate Jews at all, but had to because Amin al-Husseini told him he must!

Time and again the Zionists dredge up the horrors of the holocaust as a reason why they must make Arabs refugees, or at best second class citizens in their own country. They use it to justify sectarian, racist views. As Rabbi Aahron Cohen said when he gave this speech in 2006:

I must add that the use by the Zionists of the holocaust to further their aim of a sectarian state is the height of hypocrisy when one bears in mind that the Zionists turned each stage of Nazi oppression to their own advantage, to further the aim of forming a state…

So, we know, despite the IHRA fraud, we are not anti-Semitic when we say that Israel exploits and seeks to uniquely sacralise the Nazi holocaust for political ends. While observing Britain did little to protect the Jews or help them escape persecution in World War II, we consider the Nazi holocaust was not a uniquely barbaric event; 10 million black Africans were massacred by the Belgian colonial regime in Congo at the turn of the 20th Century. Imperialist crimes everywhere (including those of the British in America, Africa, Asia, Australia, India and Ireland) are of the same cold-blooded order as the Nazi holocaust, which was a crime of imperialist capitalism, not a unique slaughter outside of history.

Policy 6. We favour a single-state solution, whereby all citizens are equal – Israelis and Palestinians – Jews, Muslims and Christians – and all have equal voting rights – and where UN Resolution 194 on the right to return is honoured. We recognise this may lead to an Arab prime minister, governing the land between the river and the sea! We believe that by so doing we can help secure lasting peace in the Middle East.

Policy 7: We support Jeremy Corbyn to be Labour’s next prime minister, fighting by all means, including sanctions, boycotts and military aid, to support the Palestinians and defeat Israel’s monstrous and tyrannical racism, which should go as did South African apartheid. We believe that we must rid Labour of the IHRA definition to allow this, for if Corbyn criticised Israel as fundamentally racist right now, he’d be expelled from his own party.

Organisation

We shall be led by a steering group, elected annually, including a chairperson, a vice-chair and a secretary, who will administer membership, resources, etc. The steering group will speak on behalf of the group, possibly through the chairperson, but before issuing any press statements, they will be circulated for approval to group members. Membership will be free, though donations to running costs will be solicited. Expulsions will only occur with the agreement of the majority of group members. We shall operate a website and Facebook page, with the membership list held securely. We shall administer resources such as campaign materials, model motions, regular updates to members, events, an annual general meeting, legal advice and support to those victimised through bogus anti-Semitism, etc.

Actions could include recommending slander lawyers, Information Commissioner Office coordination on Labour data breaches, local authority and police litigation, assisting with press complaints, local council petitions/twinning proposals, coordinating the lobbying of politicians, organising mass IHRA breaches, etc.

To join LAZIR, please click here

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